Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Putting your day to the Post-It test

A couple of weeks ago, Deirdre and I were making cookies together. We made the dough, added the chocolate chips, and dropped the dough onto cookie sheets. Deirdre then explained to me how the cookies were going to go in the oven, we'd have to wait for the "beep, beep, beep", then, as she said, "Deirdre eat cookies." While we were waiting, I mentioned to her that she could go read some books or play with her toys until we heard the buzzer. You know what she said? "No...Deirdre make list." She then asked for a piece of paper and a pencil, and got right to it. Hmmm. Guess there's no doubt that she really IS my daughter.

So when my brother-in-law sent me this link about list-making a few days ago - I couldn't deny that it was right up my alley. It's short, and sweet and to the point - which is exactly the way our daily to-do lists should look, apparently.

The gist of the article? Keep your daily to-do's to a post-it note. If it can't fit on that little square piece of paper, then you're not going to be able to cram it into your day.

Here's the link, and here's a picture of how one shouldn't abuse the post-it note rule.

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Sara Gorman

In 2001, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus, at the age of 26. I had been married less than 6 weeks and was at a highpoint in my career in television production. While I fought to keep hold of the life I'd known - demanding, yet fulfilling career, busy social life, packed vacation schedule - after four years of running my body into the ground, I realized I was fighting life, not living it. Thus, I downshifted almost every aspect of my life. I let go of my career and made it my number one priority to get myself back in good health. I'm proud to say that I've reached my goal, but work each day to maintain that healthy lifestyle. despite lupus. My book details the steps it took to reach that goal. A native of Indiana and graduate of the University of Notre Dame, I reside in Alexandria, Virginia with my husband, two young daughters, and pug dog.